Taliban MD-530 Crashed During ‘Training’ | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-06.23.25

Airborne-NextGen-06.24.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.25.25

Airborne-AffordableFlyers-06.26.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.27.25

Sat, Jan 08, 2022

Taliban MD-530 Crashed During ‘Training’

Regime's Dearth of Aviators Continues To Worsen Aircraft Attrition

The Taliban confirmed a video making the rounds earlier this week that featured one of their inherited MD-350 helicopters coming in low for a landing only to abruptly lift and veer off horizontally before impacting the ground. 

Like many goings on in the post US-withdrawal Afghanistan, details are few and far between, with rumors abounding unopposed until halfhearted explanations are officially sewn. Taliban spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, Inayatullah Khwarazmi blamed technical issues with the aircraft, saying the 2 injured pilots are expected to recover. "The helicopter crashed and is destroyed. Our pilots are injured but we don't have fatalities. One of the pilots is in stable condition, another pilot is in critical condition," he said.

The equipment left to the Afghanistan National Army varied last year, with much of it falling into Taliban hands with little bloodshed as forces were absorbed into the advancing army. Technical skills are few and far between, as the new owners found. Very little of the upkeep for ANA aircraft was completed by local technicians, the majority of maintenance being completed by outside contractors that disappeared with the American retreat. Decades of American involvement tried unsuccessfully to establish aeronautical expertise in-theater, but their best efforts were only able to create a small, ambivalent cadre of Afghani pilots who are more famous for sitting out a number of important battles during the takeover than heroic ground attack missions. Their actions were understandable, given their status as preferred assassination targets of embedded Taliban cells. Pilots were highly prized targets owing to their battlefield effectiveness, the blow to morale, and the grounding of ANA aircraft. That policy has taken a toll, however, as knowledgeable aviators are now few and far between in the new government, evidenced by videos of untrained amateurs commandeering their newly acquired aircraft. Unfortunately for the new government, replacement helicopters are just as rare and expensive, making those few remaining even less likely to be used as trainers. 

FMI: www.mfa.gov.af/en/

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (06.29.25)

Aero Linx: Transport Canada We are a federal institution, leading the Transport Canada portfolio and working with our partners. Transport Canada is responsible for transportation p>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (06.29.25): Gross Navigation Error (GNE)

Gross Navigation Error (GNE) A lateral deviation from a cleared track, normally in excess of 25 Nautical Miles (NM). More stringent standards (for example, 10NM in some parts of th>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: Anticipating Futurespace - Blue Origin Visits Airventure 2017

From AirVenture 2017 (YouTube Edition): Flight-Proven Booster On Display At AirVenture… EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is known primarily as a celebration of experimental and amateu>[...]

NTSB Final Report: Cirrus SR22

Aircraft Parachute System (CAPS) Was Deployed About 293 Ft Above Ground Level, Which Was Too Low To Allow For Full Deployment Of The Parachute System Analysis: The day before the a>[...]

Airborne Affordable Flyers 06.26.25: PA18 Upgrades, ‘Delta Force’, Rhinebeck

Also: 48th Annual Air Race Classic, Hot Air Balloon Fire, FAA v Banning 100LL, Complete Remote Pilot The news Piper PA-18 Super Cub owners have been waiting for has finally arrived>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC